Sunday, November 04, 2012

Say Obama wins...

Say Barack Obama wins the election. The country won't suddenly start to improve faster than its current crawl. Just losing the election will not suddenly turn the masters of the Republican party into productive partners to synthesize a solid plan to build a sustainable civilization in this country.

The strategists of the Republican party would move forward from an Obama victory to make sure his second term went so badly that any Democratic successor would have little chance to get into office.

The first goal for Republicans will be to retain or regain control of Congress after whatever happens to their Congressional minions in 2012. Focus will shift immediately from the presidential contest now ending to the congressional races in 2014.

From 2014 to 2016, Republican propaganda will need to target contested Congressional seats and the presidency.

To keep people believing in the power of investment, the controllers of wealth must try to keep the investment markets looking good. Simultaneously they will have to restrict job growth and middle class prosperity so people feel like the economy is failing. It's not just a matter of trying to convince people that a bowl of chocolate ice cream is actually shit. Corporate interests need to shut down job growth wherever possible and jack the prices on commodities, particularly fuels, to keep the cost of living high. Tactics like downsizing help increase corporate profitability while increasing unemployment and stressing the middle class.

This is absolutely not a reason to vote for Mitt Romney. That would simply hasten the deeper entrenchment of corporate power. We might as well try to throw a few logs in front of their train while we can. Just don't expect a sudden surge of progress because we made the right choice now. It has to counteract many poor choices preceding it and try to set the direction for good decisions going forward. That means discussing everything and critiquing (as distinct from merely criticizing) even your allies.

One reason the left has had to move to the right is to provide what the former right no longer does. As the right goes farther and farther to a more distant wingtip, rational minds from the left have had to explore the conservative positions they abandoned. At one time the two parties might have been close enough to come up with real constructive criticism and a stronger solution to national problems. Instead what passes for compromise now is just a box of jagged fragments of opposing points of view thrown together in ill-tempered concession.